I am the CEO of PJA Advertising + Marketing a nationally recognized agency with offices in Boston and San Francisco. A five-time top BtoB Agency of the Year winner, PJA has worked with many great brands on a global basis. I serve on boards of BPA Worldwide, BMA of New York, Boston Museum of Science, and Partners In Health. You can also find me on Twitter @philjohnson.

Challenger Brands, NASCAR, And Presidential Politics

My grandfather told me to never discuss religion or politics with business colleagues, but I can’t resist just this one time. Not to worry. It’s a non-partisan marketing story that’s more about old-fashioned ingenuity and hustle. Hopefully you can enjoy it regardless of your political affiliations.

This story comes courtesy of Robin Johnson, the new CMO of upstart NASCAR team Front Row Motorsports out of Statesville, NC. Just seven years old, they race two cars and run a lean organization with 50 plus people. They have had their share of success, but as a young team, sponsorships – the lifeblood of racing – have been elusive.

Anybody who works with a challenger brand knows Robin’s dilemma. He can’t get sponsorships because he doesn’t have the brand awareness. And he can’t get the awareness because he doesn’t have time or money on his side. With just weeks until the Daytona 500, he also had a blank white car with no sponsorship painted on it.

He also doesn’t want to just sell a sponsorship; he wants the limelight for Front Row Motorsports. In Robin’s words, “I don’t want to be on the sports page with everyone else. I want to be on the front page, or the first page of the business section. That’s where I can stand out.”

The common sense decision would be to pick a modest goal and start small. Instead, Robin chooses a counter-intuitive move, which can often be the strongest play in a marketing strategy. He sets his sights on another group of challenger brands already locked in a competitive battle on a national scale. We’re talking the Republican candidates seeking the presidential nomination. If he can get one of them to sponsor a car at Daytona, it will be good for the candidate, good for the driver, and good for Front Row’s brand.

To Robin’s way of thinking, what candidate wouldn’t want his message seen by 70 million dedicated fans at one of the biggest sporting events of the year? He observes that a lot of candidates make an appearance at the track, somewhat derisively known as flybys. The candidate who actually shows a commitment and puts his name on a car will be the one that makes a deep connection with the fans, a virtue in both politics and business.

I asked Robin if he was worried about playing partisan politics. He tells me that he’s selling media just like the major networks, and they’re happy to run ads for all paying candidates. Then he adds, “Plus, who are we going to piss off? We don’t have any sponsors.”

Turning this strategy into reality was another story. He has one part-time assistant, William Sturgill, also known as The Jackman because, well, he’s the guy on pit row who jacks up the car on Saturdays and Sundays. Together, Robin and The Jackman reach out to the campaigns of all the candidates. To leave no stone unturned, they also contact Obama’s campaign but really believe that this is a much better opportunity for Republicans looking to move ahead in the battle for the nomination.

This part of the story reminds me that marketing is at heart a hand-to-hand competition. Over two weeks, Robin and The Jackman contact the national office for each of the candidates, their state offices, various offices of the Republican National Committee, a couple of political consultants, and they get rebuffed at every step. When people don’t respond, Robin fires off a follow-up email asking, “What do you have to lose, besides the oval office?”

After dozens of emails, 29 phone calls, and the form of rejection that only sales people understand, somebody from Rick Santorum’s campaign sees an opportunity. They sign on to sponsor car #26, a Ford Fusion driven by Tony Raines at the Daytona 500. It takes 24 hours to create the artwork and they have to detail the car on the track, but they get it done. For interested race fans, they finish in 19th place.

I challenged Robin about how much value he really got from this effort. After all, it’s almost entirely about results and return on investment. “Phil, I created a valuable sponsorship program for someone. I got people talking. I’ve got a story that will open doors with other challenger brands out there. This is a first step.”

I took some inspiration from a number of elements in this story. At the top of the list, Robin bridged the sales and marketing gap. Not only did he want to sell his product, he also had a clear strategy for how the right sale could elevate his brand.

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